


and when you're dead I will be still alive

by zayndehaan



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-19
Updated: 2012-10-19
Packaged: 2017-11-16 14:34:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/540508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zayndehaan/pseuds/zayndehaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>My love for you shall live forever. You, however, did not.</i> -Lemony Snicket</p>
<p>Set in a post-game universe where Chell returned to Aperture for various reasons and GLaDOS let her (made her) continue testing. Originally posted <a href="http://anotheraskchell.tumblr.com/post/26794580879/more-chell-dropped-the-cube-onto-the-button">here</a> on my Chell askblog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and when you're dead I will be still alive

Chell dropped the cube onto the button, and the door to the next level opened. She made her way forward towards the door, and was greeted by a strange silence where usually a sarcastic voice would be chiding her on how long the level had taken. She wondered if GLaDOS was busy at the moment, but wasn’t sure why she was doing the test if GLaDOS wasn’t supervising.

Chell walked through the doors, which still worked, and then knocked on the wall twice. No response came.

She frowned, and went to the elevator, intending to get to the bottom of this.

-

Chell reached the floor where she knew GLaDOS’s body was. Maybe the AI had disconnected herself from the Aperture mainframe… but why would she do that? GLaDOS loved Aperture, and she wouldn’t relinquish her surveillance of Chell for one second.

_Maybe somebody else disconnected her._

A chill ran through the test subject’s body.

_No._  That was impossible. It had to be. GLaDOS was incredibly hard to beat. Regardless, Chell walked a little faster.

-

She reached the chamber where GLaDOS was currently holed up, and entered, hoping for any remark from the AI. It stayed silent.

GLaDOS was still suspended from her perch of wires and ropes, but she had lowered herself down to the ground so that she was hanging an inch or so above the cold tiles. She was tilted slightly to the left, and her usually vivid yellow eye was not illuminated. The chamber felt cold and clammy, and Chell shivered unconsciously.

She stepped forward, and the robot didn’t react. Chell’s eyes narrowed, and she moved even closer to the robot. Any second now, she would reboot, and her eye would turn on, and she would probably be angry. Maybe this was all some prank she was playing on Chell.

_GLaDOS?_  Chell pressed her hand to the metal frame of the AI, and it was surprisingly cold.  _GLaDOS, where are you? Why aren’t you reacting_ _?_

Chell stepped back, hesitating. Then she gripped the metal with both hands, and shook it.

As this caused no response, Chell had a sudden mental image of GLaDOS watching her from another room, shaking her head.  _As if shaking me would have any effect. You dense lunatic_.

Chell sat down, unsure what to do, and just stared up at the AI for a long time. She then stood up, and walked around the robot, opening up a back panel. Maybe she could attempt a manual reboot if she remembered any of the programming stuff Wheatley had tried to d—

Instead of a circuit board, there were a number of small wires hanging out of the panel, and all of them were charred and frayed. For some reason, Chell felt sick, and her eyes flew up to the wires suspending GLaDOS from the ceiling. 

She hadn’t lowered herself to the ground. Most of the ropes had snapped, and they all looked burned. A wave of nausea hit Chell, and she stumbled back.

Chell looked up at the robot, and it really hit her for the first time. GLaDOS wasn’t sleeping, or resting. She was actually, finally, horribly  _gone_.

Chell’s hands balled into fists and she gritted her teeth. She picked up the portal gun from the ground, and lifted it, the shock of her revelation taking over her body.  _She’s gone_ _. She’s finally gone_.

Chell smashed the gun into the side of the robot, and screamed wordlessly.  _WAKE UP! WAKE UP! You can’t leave me here alone! I’ll die without you! I don’t know how to… You can’t leave me here like this!_

She smashed the gun several more times, each hit ruining years of research and testing at Aperture. However, the metal of GLaDOS’s frame was barely dented. Chell was hardly conscious of the teardrops beginning to roll down her face _._ _Wake up, damn you!_

Eventually, the test subject sunk to the ground once more, clutching the demolished gun to her chest and sobbing to nobody.  _Gone. Gone. Gone._

“Hello, [Subject Name Here],” GLaDOS’s voice chimed out from the ceiling, and Chell jumped about a foot as her heart flew up into her throat.

“It pains me to have to do this useless procedure, as there is  _no possible way_ that the following situation could ever occur. But nevertheless, Aperture procedures dictate that I must leave this here for you.”

A long robotic sigh echoed around the chamber, and then GLaDOS continued.

“In the  _impossibly_ unlikely event that I have ceased to retain sentience, here is a quick set of instructions as to what you should do.”

Chell’s heart sank again.  _No._

“Number one. Please do not feel the need to mourn me. Science will continue as scheduled.”

_No._

“Number two. Don’t think that just because I’m not there, you can do anything ridiculous like missing scheduled tests or mistreating Aperture equipment.”

Chell’s gaze dropped to the broken portal gun in her lap before she looked back up at the robot.  _No, no, no no no no._

“Number three. If you miss my company to the extent of which you are unable to continue testing, then you may satisfy your extrovert needs by opening the Co-operating Testing Initiative ward of Aperture and befriending the two AI personalities you will find in there. Of course, they will not be as good company as I am, but you can’t have everything you want in life.”

The AI laughed at her own joke, and the high, ringing noise brought another unexpected wave of emotion to Chell.

“Finally, good luck in your future endeavours, [Subject Name Here]. The future of Science is partially more in your hands now.”

The recording stopped, and Chell bit her cheek, before hoarsely speaking. “R-replay recording.”

For a moment, she wasn’t sure if Aperture had heard her or not. She hadn’t used her voice in years, and for a while even she had thought she was mute. Her voice was rusty, and she wasn’t able to produce more than a quiet, soft noise.

“Hello, [Subject Name Here],” GLaDOS’s voice began once more, and Chell relaxed a little. She moved herself over so she was lying against the cold frame of the robot, and closed her eyes, listening to the AI’s voice.

-

Chell commanded Aperture to repeat the recording over and over for hours. Eventually, her voice grew a little stronger, so she was able to speak louder and with more confidence. Finally, after the recording had been repeated hundreds of times, Chell stood up, leaning on GLaDOS for support.

She had figured out why the room was so cold; Aperture’s fans were still running to cool GLaDOS’s technology down so she didn’t overheat. Meaning that the ventilation system hadn’t figured out she was dead yet. Chell spoke once more. “Air conditioning off.”

A quiet whirring noise that Chell hadn’t even realized was there stopped, and the room became eerily silent, as though Aperture was beginning to mourn its daughter. Chell walked to the door, and left without turning to look back at GLaDOS.

-

The elevator ride back up was no more silent than usual, but there was a difference between the absence of GLaDOS’s voice temporarily and the absence of GLaDOS’s voice forever. Chell had left the broken portal gun down in the chamber with GLaDOS. She was sure she’d be able to find another one.

Sure enough, when Chell got to the weapons room, there it was. She took the gun off the shelf, and looked it over. It was perfectly identical to the one she’d just wrecked. She took it, and pointed it to one wall, shooting a blue portal, and then to another, shooting an orange. It functioned properly.

The feeling of shooting portals once more calmed Chell, and she returned to the elevator, going in the direction of a new test.

Science would continue as scheduled.


End file.
